Good morning !
I am from Russia.
===================================
About the Bible.
The Bible does not approve of an idea of naturism..

The Bible did wrote a tale about ā global deluge, Noah and his son Ham..
Ham did see a nakedness of his father, Noah.
Noah did curse his son Ham because Ham did see a nakedness of his father..
(the Bible, the Genesis, Chapter 9 )
============
Ābout a nakedness The Bible did wrote:
Do not open a nakedness of your father and mother. (The Bible, Levith, chapter 18,verse 7)
Do not open a nakedness of your sister. (The Bible, Levith, chapter 18,verse 9)
Do not open ā nakedness of your grand-daughter (The Bible, Levith, chapter 18,verse 10)
Do not open a nakedness of a brother of your father.(The Bible, Levith, chapter 18,)
Do not approach yourself to a wife of your brother.(The Bible, Levith, chapter 18,)
etc etc.
============================
With the quotes you can see that The Bible does not approve of an idea of naturism..

Apparently you are not very well versed in the bible. Have you read any of my articles and related articles that is about naturism? To just get on here and say what you said without proper research and understanding of where we are coming from, you may find yourself out gunned.

Read the related articles and then come back and talk to us. Don't just slam condemnation and run away.

"Nakedness" refers to sexual relationships, not nudity per se. Best to read the whole context and history of the subect.
laws you quote tells you not to eat pork and to not work on Saturday, the Sabbath. Do you follow this as well?

Boyd Allen
"May the Lord protect our nudity from the sight of those who will not benefit, and may he allow us to be seen by those who will."

In this version of the Bible, it does use that phrase.

I am going to delve into something I can barely get by with, a little Hebrew, as I don't speak it at all. Using my trusty Bible study tools... Strongs concordance (the numbers in the () are called "Strongs Numbers" and index the word) and the King James (or other Bible versions for that matter).

=============================================
If you look at Genisis 9:21, it says...

"21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent."

In Strongs, it says that "uncovered" (#H1540) is:
"gâlâh
gaw-law'
A primitive root; to denude (especially in a disgraceful sense); by implication to exile (captives being usually stripped); figuratively to reveal: - + advertise, appear, bewray, bring, (carry, lead, go) captive (into captivity), depart, disclose, discover, exile, be gone, open, X plainly, publish, remove, reveal, X shamelessly, shew, X surely, tell, uncover."

Verse 22 says: "Gen 9:22 And Ham, the father1 of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without."

In this verse, the word "saw" (#H7200) is:
"râ'âh
raw-aw'
A primitive root; to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitively, intransitively and causatively): - advise self, appear, approve, behold, X certainly, consider, discern, (make to) enjoy, have experience, gaze, take heed, X indeed, X joyfully, lo, look (on, one another, one on another, one upon another, out, up, upon), mark, meet, X be near, perceive, present, provide, regard, (have) respect, (fore-, cause to, let) see (-r, -m, one another), shew (self), X sight of others, (e-) spy, stare, X surely, X think, view, visions."

The word nakedness (#H6172) is:
"‛ervâh
er-vaw'
From H6168; nudity, literally (especially the pudenda) or figuratively (disgrace, blemish): - nakedness, shame, unclean (-ness)."

(#H6168 is: "‛ârâh
aw-raw'
A primitive root; to be (causatively make) bare; hence to empty, pour out, demolish: - leave destitute, discover, empty, make naked, pour (out), rase, spread self, uncover."

===========================================

So, what we see here is Noah shaming himself naked somehow, Ham seeing the situation and enjoying it. More like pornography than simple nudity.

The verses in Lev (Levith?) that you mention have the same word for nakedness that the verse in Genisis does, #H6172

There are in Hebrew, however, several different words for nakedness.

======================================
Isaiah 20 says for instance.

Isa 20:2 At the same time spoke the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off, thy loins, and put off thy shoe from, thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.

Here the word naked (#6174) is:
"‛ârôm ‛ârôm
aw-rome', aw-rome'
From H6191 (in its original sense); nude, either partially or totally: - naked."

and H6191 is
"‛âram
aw-ram'
A primitive root; properly to be (or make) bare; but used only in the derived sense (through the idea perhaps of smoothness) bo be cunning (usually in a bad sense): - X very, beware, take crafty [counsel], be prudent, deal subtilly."
======================================

The question I will ask then is... Would God, a God who abhors sin, tell Isaiah to sin? If the answer is no, then nakedness is not condemmed in the Bible but pornography is.

By the way, I used a Bible study tool here called E-Sword. It is freely available at http://www.e-sword.net/. The King James Version and Strongs are available free. There are some versions that you would buy then.

First off Sigurd, I would love to thank you for stopping by to post your beliefs. Though those beliefs may differ, I am glad to hear that you are willing to share them.

Also I would like to thank bornnude for those facts she has just shared with us. The Bible does have different meanings for the word nude. Not all nudity in the Bible is condemned. Only nudity that is sexual is condemned. Innocent wholesome nudity isn't. Personally I believe that the savior Jesus Christ was a naturist. Just check these verses out from the KJV of St. John Ch 13, vs 4-5:
He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.
After that he poureth the water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

Obviously he removed his robes and all his clothing, and then put on a towel. However after that he removed the towel to wash his disciples feet. It's my idea that he was nude while doing so.

Firstly, Hi to Boyd and all the dear friends in the US..Seems like a longggggggg while since we shared fellowship. Miss you all and love you all dearly!

I just want to commend "BornNude" for her research into the words used for "nakedness" in the Bible, excellent work!

I realise that for our most frequent participants in this great site, that what I'm about to share is like "teaching Grandma to suck eggs" (Hope that's a phrase understood by our American bretheren). In other words "preaching to the converted".

The Hebrew and Greek languages are far richer and more complex than English, and often in English one word is used to express many different things. Greek and Hebrew has more volcabulary. For example in English we say: " I love my best friend" and "I love my mother".... However in Greek they would say: "I PHILIOS my best friend" but "I STORGE my mother". One word in English, two in Greek.

Also in Mark 4 vs 13... "Do you not UNDERSTAND this parable, How then will you UNDERSTAND all parables". In Greek this reads: "Do you not OIDA (totally understand) this parable, How then will you not GINOSKO (start to understand) all parables".

The same applies to the word for "nakedness" in the passages refering to "seeing someones nakedness" in Genesis. This catagorically DOES NOT refer to simply nudity, but is the polite 1611ad King James Translators way of putting something akin to a sexual act, in a non offensive way!

In referring to the person who orginally started this thread.....Dear person created in God's image.....Examine the heart, and test your own reasons for making such a statement, perhaps the Spirit of the living God is trying to reveal something of Himself to you? Maybe the difficulty is in idea's given that are not in fact based in scripture, but the idea's of loved ones who mean well, but lack understanding? Maybe, you feel very strongly about the correlation of those who proclaim to love Christ Jesus and yet practise a lifestyle free of clothing? Let's remember that whilst the word "Naturist" is used to describe the persons here, in fact we are simply just people who prefer to not wear clothing, and furthermore, feel we do not have raging lust problems when in the presence of other unclothed people who also love and serve Christ...After all "Man looketh at the BODY, whilst God looks at the HEART!

In Christian Love

Tony

And when you do come to post, you post big time! Thanks!

I like the way you come around to using someones need to go and push an agenda (for or against) and lead them to examine if God is trying to tell them something. In other words, why are you here? Are you here to condemn? Or are you here to answer Gods request to examine your own heart?

"Examine the heart, and test your own reasons for making such a statement, perhaps the Spirit of the living God is trying to reveal something of Himself to you?"

I think Shakespear put it in another way to a woman who kept going on about something, "Woman, I think you protesteth too much", probably meaning, "You are just as guilty" or "something else is on your heart and you are protesting to expose it".


Boyd Allen
"May the Lord protect our nudity from the sight of those who will not benefit, and may he allow us to be seen by those who will."

Hello Sigurd,

Like others before me have said: thank you for visiting us, and for taking the time and having the courage to present your views.

However, also like others before me, I think that your views are based in a limited, very basic understanding of what Scripture says, at least in the verses you bring up.

Firstly, a correction: it was Ham's son Canaan that Noah cursed, not Ham himself. It's bad form to attack someone with false facts, so you need to check your information.

I've studied this Scripture story a bit, and most schollars agree that it was not simple nakedness that was at issue. What exactly occured is not known, but as noted previously the language suggests that something sexual was happening. The idea that Ham actually had a sexual experience with his father's wife is actually common (the language "saw the nakedness of his father" would still be accurate in this case). Canaan may have actually been the product of this union, and hence the cursing.

All the other referances that you bring up from Leviticus are commandments against impropper sexual unions, usually incestuous, not simply against nakedness. If you think about it, understanding the conditions in which the people these laws were given to lived, not seeing members of their family naked would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible, which is good reason to prohibit sexual activity between them.

Please continue to post, but as Boyd said, you need to be prepared. Several of us have been studying this topic for years, and we won't be swept aside so easily. We understand that your intent is for our good, so there are no hard feelings (I hope), but don't simply condemn us out of hand. Come, let us reason together as brothers, and not simply throw stones at each other.

God Bless
Kevin

(edited by Kevin)